Dungeons 2 Evil Has Never Been This Much Fun

Underground, you are the manager of evil. Your snouts dig tunnels through the rock while you decide where the gold goes, which rooms to carve out, and where the traps wait for the heroes who keep breaking in. A workshop for research, an arena for training, a brewery, a hospital for beaten-up monsters: every room has a job, and your creatures have opinions about doing it. They drink beer when you need them researching. They nap when there is digging to do. The Hand of Terror lets you grab them by the scruff and drop them where the work is, and a swift slap hurries along the truly hopeless. Building a dungeon that runs itself, and defending its entrances like a tower defense when heroes come knocking, is the quiet half of the game's charm.

The underworld is never enough. When your horde is ready, you march it up the stairs and play a proper real-time strategy game in the sunlight: selecting your creatures, ordering attacks, and leaving the humans' beautiful cities in ruins. Above ground the Hand of Terror works differently: instead of hauling minions around, you give targeted commands and cast spells to tip a fight. Two factions play this part differently, the horde and the demons, each with its own creatures, rooms and upgrades, so a second campaign run does not feel like a replay of the first. It is a simple, satisfying loop: dig, breed, upgrade, then watch your monsters pour out of a hole in the ground and ruin someone's afternoon.

If you like management sims, this is one with a villain's business plan. Instead of theme park guests you have heroes to repel, and instead of happy visitors your score is gold mined, monsters trained and kingdoms conquered. Place your facilities where the walls are close, or the work slows down. It is the same pleasure as running a good tycoon game, the layout, the staff, the steady growth, except the staff are orcs and demons and the customer satisfaction metric is how much of the overworld is on fire.